How to promote your restaurant takeaway and connect with guests during covid-19?
The pandemic has forced fancy restaurants and local eateries to throw their usual way of doing business out of the door. From receiving guests, to visiting guests. Restaurant takeaway and home delivery have become the new norm. But how do you promote your restaurant takeaway and delivery services without having to spend tons of money?
The best way to promote your takeaway and home delivery services is through social media. You may already have a following here. If you don’t, then there are a couple of easy ways to quickly grow an audience. Giveaways, like-and-share competitions and posts with effective CTAs (call to actions) are the best way to make this happen.
However, whether you already have an audience or not, promoting your takeaway and delivery services should never be the only thing you’re doing online. We can’t emphasize this enough: your social media content should be 40% spark (inspire), 40% foster (inform/build relationship) and 20% move (call-to-action, like ‘order now’, a giveaway, et cetera).
Without further ado, let’s take a look at some great examples from around the web Gram!
Oh, and P.S.: if you are struggling with your social media, then do read until the end!
6 inspiring examples of restaurant social media in times of covid-19
1. Create empathy: show fans what you are doing to contribute to society
The first one we’d like to share with you is this post by pizzamyheart, a vegan pizzeria chain in California (25 locations to choose from).
Their Instagram doesn’t look aesthetically amazing, but.. some of their content is pure gold. Why? Because these posts are personal and give people a sneak-peek behind the scenes. They show their fans what they are doing in these rough times to contribute to society. This is the kind of content that we would call typical foster content: it fosters the relationship with their fans by letting them in on what’s happening behind closed doors.
2. Dive into your history, like the Cold Spring Tavern did
As you can’t welcome guests right now in the present time, why not take them on a trip into the past? The Cold Spring Tavern already did this before the pandemic hit the world but has been doing this more and more these last few weeks. And with success: the engagement rates on these posts are incredibly high. Telling a story is a great example of foster content again: it builds the relationship you have with your guests by providing informative content.
3. Food delivery to the hospital by Brent’s Deli
Just like Pizzamyheart, Brent’s Deli decided to contribute to society by providing hospital workers with some meals. These contributions are, besides important and helpful, very beneficial to a restaurant’s image. It will help to create (even more) sympathy for your brand. Something which will pay off later, for sure. The note that Brent’s Deli put along with these deliveries are a great move: they make the delivery just a tat more personal.
4. Surprise a customer – and share it with the world
A simple yet highly effective idea: surprise one of your customers, share the story and film it if you can. The guys from El Pollo Loco surprised these two elderly people with food and a $200 gift card. Their astonished response is enough to make you watch the full clip. This is a prime example of how a thoughtful move can be effective marketing at the same time. Almost 9K views and 180 comments at the time of writing. Well done, guys! A great example of spark/foster content: it mixes inspirational content that grabs the attention of new followers while at the same time it builds trust and loyalty with longtime guests.
5. Give an impression of your take-away, at home!
Why just show food in boxes or your staff doing delivery? Inspire (spark) your followers by showing them what kind of experience they could have when they order your food. Phillipe is doing a great job at this by sharing photos they shot themselves as well as reposting content from their fans.
The #1 tip here is to show a fully set table like shown below. You want it to look like a feast – because that’s what it should be. A little takeout party 😉
6. Inform your fans about your opening times
Being a restaurant with a history, Frank Fat’s has quite a following. And you can’t leave your loyal fans hanging in quarantaine times! So Frank Fat’s did what was necessary: they started doing home delivery and curbside pickup. Many restaurants around the world have guests who regularly come back on special occasions, like Mother’s Day. Frank Fat’s knows this and makes sure to inform guests that they will be open.
This is something many restaurants seem to forget about right now. Don’t just stay open: communicate this as well. Make sure your audience knows what you’re doing!
Stay on top of your game
The best, and maybe even the only way to stay connected with your guests right now, is via social media. You need to keep your fans entertained, informed and engaged. This will help to promote your restaurant takeaway, get more orders and above all: increase the chances of them supporting you, even when this pandemic is ‘over’. Now is actually a great time to build and enforce the relationship you have with your followers and fans.
We’ve got many more ideas. You can check out a few in our previous blog post or sign up for our newsletter below to stay informed.
Struggling with social media?
Then we are here to help.
We know that you, as the owner or marketing manager of your restaurant, know your brand better than anyone else. But we also know that running a restaurant – or takeaway, for that matter – takes lots of time and energy. It leaves space to spend on crafting social media posts.
Our membership program takes the hassle away from social media and turn it into something fun and effective for you. It will help you to grow your following while actually spending very little time on creating the posts.
Check out more about the membership here.
